Southasiasphere, 26 July: Sexual violence in Manipur, Bangladesh protests and repression, and more

Southasiasphere is our roundup of news events and analysis of regional affairs, now out twice a month. If you are a member, you will automatically receive links to the new episodes in your inbox. If you are not yet a member, you can still get it for free by signing up here. In this episode, we talk about the disturbing video footage of sexual assault coming out of Manipur, and the Dhaka by-polls and escalating violence and repression around protest rallies in Bangladesh. In “Around Southasia in Five Minutes”, we discuss a report highlighting corruption in Karnataka's health sector and recent deaths in Sri Lanka due to the import of inferior drugs from India, the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Paris and renewed scrutiny of the controversial Rafale deal, the Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India and commitments to domestic power-sharing, continued cross-border terrorism in Pakistan, the formation of a new opposition coalition in India, and protests from indigenous groups in Nepal over the renaming of one of its provinces, as well as the recent arrest of 74 Rohingya refugees in Uttar Pradesh. For “Bookmarked” we discuss V V Ganeshananthan’s novel Brotherless Night, a heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by Sri Lanka’s civil war. Episode Notes: Violence in Manipur, Imran Khan’s arrest, the Karnataka elections and more: https://www.himalmag.com/violence-in-manipur-imran-khans-arrest-adani-myanmar-karnataka-election/ The political fallout of violence in Manipur, Bangladesh’s economic crisis, the crackdown on PTI supporters and more: https://www.himalmag.com/violence-manipur-bangladesh-economic-crisis-crackdown-pti-supporters/ Bangladesh’s BNP fights to make a political comeback: https://www.himalmag.com/bangladesh-nationalist-party-bnp-political-rallies-election/ Making Prothom Alo “the enemy” in Bangladesh: https://www.himalmag.com/media-prothom-alo-the-enemy-sheikh-hasina-awami-league-bangladesh/ Sri Lanka’s exodus of healthcare workers: https://www.himalmag.com/sri-lanka-healthcare-governance-workers-migration-economic-crisis/ Modi’s US visit, Pakistani migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, Myanmar’s flower strike and more: https://www.himalmag.com/modi-us-visit-pakistani-migrant-deaths-in-the-mediterranean-myanmars-flower-strike/